Liquid phase epitaxial growth of (Al,Ga)As double-heterostructure laser material in a sapphire boat

Abstract
It is demonstrated that the use of a sapphire boat in the liquid phase epitaxial (LPE) growth of (Al,Ga)As double heterostructure (DH) laser material results in better layer-thickness uniformity and no edge growth. We attribute this improvement to control of thermal geometry within the melt. In addition, the wetting of Ga on sapphire results in laser material which has less prominent meniscus lines and is free of rake lines. The distribution of cw threshold currents represents a substantial improvement for LPE grown (Al,Ga)As and is comparable to that reported for MBE (Al,Ga)As DH lasers.